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Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Crime Wave 2012

100 PERCENT

By Robert Press

BRONX, NEW YORK, November 28- When I write this column I always check the news, and this weekend was not good news for three young girls in the Bronx.

On Friday a 15-year-old girl was strangled in the lobby of her aunt’s building on Barretto Street in the Hunts Point section. Sunday at 1 a.m. a five-year-old girl was shot in the courtyard of a building on Hughes Avenue in the Tremont area. Police arrested the shooter, and it looks like the girl was not the intended target, but who was the target? Also on Sunday around 4 a.m., a 22-year-old woman was found strangled in her car on Brook Avenue in the Hunts Point area. There may be coverage of these events elsewhere in this paper.

While the last case involving the 22 year old was allegedly done by a boy friend, Mr. Mayor – Can you still say that crime is going down, and what are you doing to halt these senseless acts of violence that continue to happen? Are the citizens of the Bronx going to see crime increase as is the case in almost every police precinct here in the Bronx? This is happening while your police department is being cut, are doing other things, and the result is that the crime rate is increasing in the Bronx. It is not just iPhone thefts, but serious crime also. People need to know that they are safe and being protected.

Maybe the decision by Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. not to seek a citywide office in 2013, but stay on to run again as Bronx BP was that there are still problems in the Bronx that need to be addressed by him. While Diaz has spoken out about gun violence he may need to step it up a notch, and ask Mayor Bloomberg to tour the areas with him where the violence occurred. While there are many other things that Diaz will do in his second full term as Bronx BP we knew that he was only testing the waters with his potential run for Public Advocate. We know that BP Diaz will seek citywide office when the time is right, and that Ruben Diaz Jr. will be known for getting things done as his record will show.

On the subject of citywide races I told you weeks ago that Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer was going to run for City Comptroller when I asked Stringer when he was going to announce the decision to run for comptroller and not mayor. While there are $1.1 million reasons for the Republican County Leaders of New York City to endorse former Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion Jr. a recent Quinnipiac College poll showed Carrion at 11 percent to any Democrat at 62 percent with 27 percent undecided. No wonder Carrion does not want to run in a Democratic primary for mayor. I suspect there will be wheeling and dealing with Carrion, and that he will wind up running for Public Advocate like former Bronx Democratic County Leader Roberto Ramirez did many years ago in 1993. Ramirez however ran for Public Advocate to test the waters for a Freddy Ferrer Mayoral race to happen in 1997, that Ferrer wound up backing out of running against the very popular incumbent Mayor Rudy Guiliani. Manhattan Borough President Ruth Messinger then wound up being the sacrificial lamb to run against incumbent Mayor Guiliani.

The New Van Cortlandt Park Ice Skating Rink opened up last week, and you can go to my blog and check the archive section for two stories about the ice skating rink. During the ribbon cutting ceremony Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, and Councilman G. Oliver Koppell all said how wonderful the VCP rink was, but all three plugged the Kingsbridge Armory Ice Skating Palace proposal that all three have endorsed.

Don't forget to check my blog at www.100percentbronx.blogspot.com for more on these items, and check the blog archive for past items that may interest you. There are also stories that come in after our deadline, and events that may not have made it into this column, plus lots of photos of events.

If you have any comments about this column or would like to have an event covered in this column or on my blog you can e-mail us at 100percentbronxnews@gmail.com or call 718-644-4199 Mr. Robert Press.